Publisher's Summary

Holmes is petitioned by the groom of the Bedlam lunatic asylum to investigate a couple who have appeared at his stables. And after the notorious winter of 1894-5, the politician Mr. Lawler, previously encountered in The Minister and the Moguls, gives Holmes a commission to investigate whether the climate is changing and whether industrialization is the cause.

Holmes' investigation into climate change has surprising results but are just what Mr. Lawler is looking for. Holmes is left to philosophize on the parallels with the outcome of the Bedlam case.